{"id":45478,"date":"2025-11-20T00:35:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T00:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/45478\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T00:35:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T00:35:10","slug":"nets-rookies-biggest-wins-may-not-count-in-the-standings-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/45478\/","title":{"rendered":"Nets rookies’ biggest wins may not count in the standings yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Egor D\u00ebmin has played the 11th-most minutes of any rookie in the NBA this season and fellow Nets rookie Drake Powell is 16th on that list.<\/p>\n

When Ben Saraf is healthy, he\u2019s averaged 13.9 minutes per game, 27th in the league.<\/p>\n

As the Nets navigate what will certainly be another lost season, at least when it comes to competing for a playoff spot, it\u2019s up to head coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez to determine how best to keep the team somewhat competitive \u2014 as they\u2019ve been in their past four games \u2014 while also giving the first-year players enough time on the court to help them develop for the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s also up to standout veterans like Michael Porter Jr. to make sure the Nets don\u2019t get totally embarrassed.<\/p>\n

\"BenBen Saraf #77 of the Brooklyn Nets dribbles the ball against the Atlanta Hawks. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Because as Fern\u00e1ndez said following Tuesday\u2019s defeat in Brooklyn to a Celtics team that\u2019s remained solid despite the loss of Jayson Tatum to a torn Achilles and the decision by the front office to build for the future, the focus of this Nets team is on the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of you guys [in the media] will not see wins in the standings,\u2019\u2019 Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cWe have high standards. We want to win and we play to win, but the wins are also the future Nets who will play on a winning team are getting their minutes. We have to figure out how to make the players better and grow. For four straight games, we\u2019ve played a respectable brand of basketball. If that\u2019s the case, we will continue to do that and live with the results.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that end, the results may not change much, especially over the next five games, all of which are against teams currently over .500 and in the Eastern Conference, starting in Boston on Friday.<\/p>\n

D\u00ebmin, the highest-drafted Nets rookie \u2014 eighth overall \u2014 has lived up to his billing as a strong outside shooter, as well as a solid distributor, but he\u2019s so far lacked the physicality that would allow him to get to the basket and finish consistently, as well as play solid defense.<\/p>\n

Powell said he\u2019s still adjusting to the pace of the NBA game, but not in typical fashion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Fern\u00e1ndez said he wanted the Nets to play with a faster pace, Powell agreed, noting that he felt he played with more pace last season at North Carolina and that the increase would help his game, as well as the entire team.<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Porter Jr. #17 of the Brooklyn Nets drives against Jordan Walsh #27 of the Boston Celtics during their game at Barclays Center on November 18, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

And the two of them will undoubtedly continue to see the court a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinutes are very important,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cAnd accountability is important, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coach believes it will lead to good things later on, even if the record probably won\u2019t show it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning starts now,\u2019\u2019 Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cI\u2019ll keep coaching and, at times, feeling like I\u2019ll do whatever I can do to go get the win and help the team compete.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That the Nets have been competitive each of the past four games is something to build on, according to Porter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good opportunity for all of us,\u2019\u2019 Porter said when asked if he was frustrated by trying to get this inexperienced team going. \u201cIt\u2019s not frustrating. We\u2019re all in this together. It\u2019s not only the young guys, it\u2019s a new group together. We\u2019ve made strides, which is why we\u2019re more competitive than we were in Game 2 and Game 3 [of the season]\u2026 It\u2019s a step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Egor D\u00ebmin has played the 11th-most minutes of any rookie in the NBA this season and fellow Nets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,355,99,5235,4600,21,9,24,63,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-45478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-brooklyn-news","12":"tag-egor-demin","13":"tag-michael-porter-jr","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}